I need a plan for 8 wo on loose EASY - lots of problems

[Giorgina]

I have an 8 week old daughter (born weighing 6.6lbs now weighs 9.5lbs) and I am trying to get her on a more proper EASY.  I'm looking for some guidance on fixing these problems:
Eating - she does not make it to 3 hours very often.  She wants to eat at the 2.5 hour mark and sometimes even the 2 hour mark.  She will just cry and cry until she is fed. How do I get her to lengthen the feeding time?  She's a quick eater and always has been.  She is gaining weight properly so lactation consultant and doc say not to worry about length of feed.

Night time - My DD was sleeping 3 or 4 hours at a time at night and waking to feed only.  Those were the good old days.  This was the only time she'd eat at 3 hours!  I'd feed her and she'd fall asleep on me and would not wake again for 3 hours more.  This has ended somehow.  She is now waking at different times - sometimes after 2 hours, or 3 hours or even 1 hour.  I've done something wrong here but not sure how to fix it.  When she wakes now I still place her on my breast as I need her to be quiet so that the rest of the household can sleep.

Daytime naps - on occasion she will give me a nap longer than 1 hour.  They are usually 30 min or 45 min and sometimes one hour long.  I do the 4S routine for daytime naps.  And I do not rush in when she wakes, I wait for a cry and see if she will resettle herself.  Almost always she does not - she is so revved up from trying to break free from the swaddle.

I need a plan!  How do I fix this and where do I begin?  I am willing to commit to a plan and start all over with the EASY training - just not sure how to do it.  And I am going on record stating that I know that I have created these problems and desperately want to fix them!!

[*Liz*]

There isn't really anything wrong with feeding every 2.5 hrs at such a young age during the day - but it looks as though the breast might have become a bit of a prop at night. Even if she is not feeding to sleep, the she is wanting the comfort and relaxation of a BF. But it really would be TOTALLY normal for an 8 week old to want to feed every 3 hrs 24 hrs a day.

So in some respects you might not actually be that far off -  just exhausted after the first 8 weeks with a teeny baby.

It might be worth a post on the BFing forum for some advice about what is achievable with feed lengthening at this age. My DS always fed every 2-3 hrs until about 5 mths or so. I stopped his snacking by VERY VERY slowly lengthening the feeds - and I used distraction for 5-10 mins to do this. DS never took a paci. But it is much easier to distract a 5 mth old  .

When she wakes after only 1 hr at night have you tried to resettle without feeding? I know it is hard when others need to sleep.

Does she feed to sleep during the day?

Do you want to post what happened today in EAS format so we can see. Perhaps if we can get the timing of the naps right that might help to lengthen the feeds a bit.